IOC members, including Britain’s Princess Anne, right, listen to Obama’s pitch in Copenhagen. The elimination of Chicago as a potential host of the 2016 Games marks the second loss in a row for the U.S. in Olympic selections.
Pool-Reuters
One good thing about Barack Obama going to Copenhagen arguing for the United States and Chicago is he is gonna have to say some really, very positive things about the United States while abroad which is not something he has been doing.
-Bill Bennett
U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to promote Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Copenhagen October 2, 2009. Chicago is competing with Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro to host the Summer Games, and Obama is the first U.S. president to address the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in person to support a city’s bid. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES POLITICS SPORT OLYMPICS)
A former fetus, the “wordsmith from nantucket” was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1968. Adopted at birth, wordsmith grew up a military brat. He achieved his B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles (graduating in the top 97% of his class), where he also competed rings for the UCLA mens gymnastics team. The events of 9/11 woke him from his political slumber and malaise. Currently a personal trainer and gymnastics coach.
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Neo
13 years ago
There has been widespread speculation that Obama is flying to Copenhagen for a four-hour lobbying mission only because the White House has gotten a private heads-up that Chicago will win and that he should come to claim victory. But the sources close to the process insisted that the voting has not been pre-cooked, meaning Obama is swooping in at some political risk, because it is unclear whether the U.S. bid will be successful.
“One of the most important legacies I would like to see Chicago leave in hosting the 2016 Games would be to show America at its best,” he said.
“That the USA is open to the world and to that end I have directed the full force of the White House and the State Department behind it. I want people to come away with the impression that America is an open and diverse society.
“Over the past few years the fundamental truth of the United States has been lost.
Open and diverse society? What happened to all the racists? Perhaps he intends to pull Daley’s street bum trick and disappear them, kinda like when Michelle got rid of the poor patients they didn’t want at University, they just sent the ambulances away.
vikingTX
13 years ago
The more he is out of the country, the less harm he can do here.
savage24
13 years ago
Can this idiot give a speech overseas without apologizing. If he doesn’t like America why not move to Africa where he would be more comfortable. If he can’t do better then this, we should take Air Force One away from him.
Blast
13 years ago
President Obama: “And I’m very impressed with part of the presentation that we made matching up host families for the athletes who are going to be there, because, as I said, Chicago, we’ve got — we’ve got everybody. This could be a meeting in Chicago, because we look like the world. And I think that over the last several years sometimes that fundamental truth about the United States has been lost. And one of the legacies, I think, of this Olympics Games in Chicago would be a restoration of that understanding of what the United States is all about, and the United States’ recognition of how we are linked to the world.”
I really hope the Games go to Rio. South America has never held them AND I would love to see obama with egg on his face and Valerie Jarrett NOT making all those millions through corrupt deals.
Blast
13 years ago
madeleine7: I really hope the Games go to Rio.
Yeah, cutting of your nose to spite your face. Good going Madeleine…
Missy
13 years ago
Cutting off your nose to spite your face? Chicago is broke, take a peak at what other host cities lost:
And once again PEBO fails to accomplish what he sets out to do. Do we see a trend here??
Luckey Haskins
13 years ago
How long will it be before the Obamas will start saying the Olympic Committee made this decision because they are racists?
Davey
13 years ago
” I come to beg you on my knees. Please bring bring your Games to Chicago, which is known to you as the Armpit of America. We need to be loved by someone”. “We will wear deodorant”.
@Blast: As Davey iterates it, it does come across as a bit of groveling with a slam-on-America-style remark.
And I think that over the last several years sometimes that fundamental truth about the United States has been lost.
Why does he think this, blast? It’s like a fabricated platitude. It’s been “lost” that Chicago and America is diverse over “the last few years” (re: Bush years)?! How does this reasoning inspire the IOC to want to host the Olympics in Chicago? Tugging on their heart-strings, begging them to help us make Americans feel better about themselves and wanting a chance to prove to the world that they can love us if they know us?
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (CNN) — After flying through the night for seven hours aboard Air Force One, nobody would blame President Obama for being at least slightly groggy when he arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark, for a quick four hours to make the final pitch for Chicago to host the 2016 Olympics.
Maybe that explains why the president seemed to snag the silver medal while first lady Michelle Obama, who’s been in Copenhagen a couple of days, clearly took the gold with an emotional speech focused on her family’s roots in the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, and her late father’s battle with multiple sclerosis.
“Sports were a gift I shared with my dad, especially the Olympic Games,” Obama said in her portion of the U.S. delegation’s final presentation to the International Olympic Committee. “Some of my best memories are sitting on my dad’s lap, cheering on Olga and Nadia, Carl Lewis and others for their brilliance and perfection.
“But I never dreamed that the Olympic flame might one day light up lives in my neighborhood,” she said. “But today, I can dream, and I am dreaming of an Olympic and Paralympic Games in Chicago that will light up lives in neighborhoods all across America and all across the world.”
The mention of the Paralympic Games was significant because a good bit of Obama’s speech tugged at the heartstrings by focusing on how her father was diagnosed with MS in his early 30s, leaving him nearly unable to walk. She spoke in a halting voice about how he kept getting sicker but still taught her how to play sports while propping himself up on crutches.
“My dad was my hero. And when I think of what these games could mean to people all over the world, I think of people like my dad, who face seemingly insurmountable challenges, but they never give up.”
I promised…..I wouldn’t cry!
PB
13 years ago
Is that TOTUS that I see peeking out from the left of the picture? We had to pay to send TOTUS as well?
LOL! It’s “teleprompter of the United States”, SOP… ala TOTUS. He actually has his own hilarious website, he (she? they??? as they are usually “twins”) are so famous.
Here’s were you can find the TOTUS blog. Read it and weep with hysterical laughter.
Patvann
13 years ago
Teleprompter Of The United States.
sickOfPartisanship
13 years ago
Patvann, thanks. That is funny. She fully deserves it.
Luckey Haskins
13 years ago
I would really be impressed if FOX network would have an Obama Comedy hour rather than taking all this Obama crap so serious ( which it is ). One thing I’ve discovered in my study of people is that laughter can change more personal political ideology than all the Hannity and Beck shows put together.
All the blog sites in the world will not change voters points of view as much as an hour a week of an Obama Comedy hour. There is endless Obama material as this blogger has shown us. In these terrible times WE NEED LAUGHTER!!! Why not at Obama , Pelosi, and Reed’s expense. It will really upset their applecart
l Comedy will soften a person’s political views. If we laugh at Obama, WE WILL WEAKEN HIM. Laughter is the best medicine for a sick country and in turn will cause change for the better. Democrats can stand all the scandals we can shovel at them but they can’t handel laughter. Laughter is the most deadly form of rejection.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/01/us.olympic.bid/index.html
Here we go again:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/oly2016vote
Yeah, sure.
Open and diverse society? What happened to all the racists? Perhaps he intends to pull Daley’s street bum trick and disappear them, kinda like when Michelle got rid of the poor patients they didn’t want at University, they just sent the ambulances away.
The more he is out of the country, the less harm he can do here.
Can this idiot give a speech overseas without apologizing. If he doesn’t like America why not move to Africa where he would be more comfortable. If he can’t do better then this, we should take Air Force One away from him.
President Obama: “And I’m very impressed with part of the presentation that we made matching up host families for the athletes who are going to be there, because, as I said, Chicago, we’ve got — we’ve got everybody. This could be a meeting in Chicago, because we look like the world. And I think that over the last several years sometimes that fundamental truth about the United States has been lost. And one of the legacies, I think, of this Olympics Games in Chicago would be a restoration of that understanding of what the United States is all about, and the United States’ recognition of how we are linked to the world.”
full quote from the President @ —> http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-in-a-QandA-Session-with-International-Olympic-Committee-members/
I really hope the Games go to Rio. South America has never held them AND I would love to see obama with egg on his face and Valerie Jarrett NOT making all those millions through corrupt deals.
Yeah, cutting of your nose to spite your face. Good going Madeleine…
Cutting off your nose to spite your face? Chicago is broke, take a peak at what other host cities lost:
http://www.chicagoansforrio.com/
And once again PEBO fails to accomplish what he sets out to do. Do we see a trend here??
How long will it be before the Obamas will start saying the Olympic Committee made this decision because they are racists?
” I come to beg you on my knees. Please bring bring your Games to Chicago, which is known to you as the Armpit of America. We need to be loved by someone”. “We will wear deodorant”.
@Blast: As Davey iterates it, it does come across as a bit of groveling with a slam-on-America-style remark.
Why does he think this, blast? It’s like a fabricated platitude. It’s been “lost” that Chicago and America is diverse over “the last few years” (re: Bush years)?! How does this reasoning inspire the IOC to want to host the Olympics in Chicago? Tugging on their heart-strings, begging them to help us make Americans feel better about themselves and wanting a chance to prove to the world that they can love us if they know us?
In a word… JACKASS!!!
Good Lord, someone hand me my violin:
I promised…..I wouldn’t cry!
Is that TOTUS that I see peeking out from the left of the picture? We had to pay to send TOTUS as well?
@PB:
Actually, yes, that’s TOTUS.
Can one of you tell me what TOTUS is? I heard of POTUS, SCOTUS and FLOTUS.
LOL! It’s “teleprompter of the United States”, SOP… ala TOTUS. He actually has his own hilarious website, he (she? they??? as they are usually “twins”) are so famous.
Here’s were you can find the TOTUS blog. Read it and weep with hysterical laughter.
Teleprompter Of The United States.
Patvann, thanks. That is funny. She fully deserves it.
I would really be impressed if FOX network would have an Obama Comedy hour rather than taking all this Obama crap so serious ( which it is ). One thing I’ve discovered in my study of people is that laughter can change more personal political ideology than all the Hannity and Beck shows put together.
All the blog sites in the world will not change voters points of view as much as an hour a week of an Obama Comedy hour. There is endless Obama material as this blogger has shown us. In these terrible times WE NEED LAUGHTER!!! Why not at Obama , Pelosi, and Reed’s expense. It will really upset their applecart
l Comedy will soften a person’s political views. If we laugh at Obama, WE WILL WEAKEN HIM. Laughter is the best medicine for a sick country and in turn will cause change for the better. Democrats can stand all the scandals we can shovel at them but they can’t handel laughter. Laughter is the most deadly form of rejection.